Saturday, August 31, 2013

Hard to believe that 22 years have gone by. Time flies when you're married to your BFF. Laughter, tears, sickness, health, we've been through it all . Our amazing son. I still love you more than chocolate Mr. C. Always.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Happy happy HAPPY haPpY Friday Eve. So excited because The Mumster is arriving tomorrow. Of course she's turning around and leaving in a couple of days for an Alaskan cruise! Poor baby.

Thanks to everyone who linked up last week. Awesome ideas as always. Here are just a few features.

It's back to school time . I miss shopping for back to school supplies so I live vicariously through other people. School supplies for College Boy pretty much boil down to pens but I miss the days of crayons and colored pencils Although as a crafter, it's a great time to stock up on things like white glue for crackling things.

. Optimistic Mommy has a bright and thoughtful back to school Teacher Appreciation gift.

Great crafting minds must think alike because I also love this Teacher's Gift idea from Just Dip It In Chocolate . I think I might have to make one of these to fill with malted milk balls for my desk.

Any Mad Men fans out there? College Boy is addicted to the show. It's Always Ruetten linked up her "Drab to Draper" chair transformation which turned out great.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

You may recall the post I had up last week using the “Vintage Travel” Project Life scrapbooking kit. While it’s designed for easy scrapbooks, I decided to use it to make some cards. The great thing is, since the Project Life kit is made by American Crafts, it coordinates with American Crafts papers! I love it when a plan I didn’t have comes together.

Here are some of the Project Life scrapbook cards I randomly selected along with a piece of scrapbook paper I had in my stash ( Fifth and Frolic collection). I had fun using designs in the cards as inspiration. For example, I used a circle punch to punch out the middle of one card and used the punched out portion here:

I distressed the cut out circle with some ink, tore another card and adhered it to the “Thousands of Little Moments” 5x7 card and used the scrapbook paper as my background Finished with some coordinating baker’s twine and washi tape.

Here’s the negative from the PL card I punched out. I trimmed it slightly and layered it over yet another card from the kit. Used more distress ink over the whole thing and used it along with a sentiment from another card to make the card shown at the top of the post.

I was having so much fun I couldn’t stop. So I grabbed even more cards from the kit and decided to make some 4.25 x 5.5 notecards.

Each of these notecards uses pieces from the PL kit, just randomly paired together, cut up, torn up, etc.

I finished some with glitter tape and others with washi tape and some with both. And guess what? I’m giving them away! Why? Why not.

Here's the Rafflectopter widget and entry is simple. Leave a blog comment telling me what your favorite back to school supply was as a kid. I loved school supply shopping almost more than back to school clothes shopping. From the days of sharp new crayons to fresh clean paper and notebooks. New pencils with unused erasers! A new box of pens. Nerdalert!

Monday, August 19, 2013

Among my favorite words are "gift with purchase". Who doesn't love that? While supplies last, the wonderful team at Spellbinders is offering a FREE ( one of my other favorite words) crown die ( pictured above) when you buy one of their other dies at Hobby Lobby.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Spellbinders. Promotion is limited to US only.

If you're not familiar with Spellbinders dies, they are detailed metal dies that work with multiple die cutting machines. They come in countless shapes and designs providing clean edged cuts and can be used over and over again in your cards, scrapbooking, mixed media projects etc. For example:

"Romantic Rectangles" is one of the sets available at Hobby Lobby , perfect for framing wedding or vintage photos, or making special cards. These are "Nestabilities" which means that each die (4 in total) nests within the next biggest size and you can cut papers to use in combination with each other.

Here's how the promotion works:

Shop IN STORE or ONLINE at Hobby Lobby for Spellbinders products.

Scan your receipt or take a photo and email it to KTillman@Spellbinders.us

Include your shipping address in your email.

Excitedly wait for your exclusive Spellbinders crown die!

This promotion is only good while supplies last... so act fast!

How easy is that?

Spellbinders is also offering one of my readers the chance to WIN ( yet another favorite word) one of the Crown dies only available through this promotion. Here's how you can enter via Rafflecopter. Giveaway will be up through midnight Friday!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Happy Friday eve creative peeps. Sorry for the lack of party features the past couple of weeks but they've been doozies. Thanks for keeping the party going even when I haven't been able to be the hostess with the mostess. Back this week with some party features from last week.

I freely confess to having watched Sharknado on the SyFy channel a few weeks back. Sometimes you just have to watch an over the top movie like that ya know? If you catch it on a re-run, whip up some of these Sharknado Cupcakes shared by Lisbeth at Just Dip It In Chocolate. Or, just make the cupcakes!

Keep the sea theme going with a few of these tissue paper wrapped candles shared by The Crafty Lumberjacks. OK guys you so owe me because now I have "Under The Sea" from "The Little Mermaid" stuck in my head!

I love old buckets, pails, containers but never ever stumble upon them except at antique shops where the cost more than I want to spend. Charinde at Couches and Cupcakes has a great "everything new is old again" tutorial to transform a shiny new Ikea bucket into a shabby chic aged looking one.

I debated which picture of these yummy chocolate cream mini pies to show. The finished one with the whipped cream on top or the one that show all the pure chocolatey goodness! Clearly you see which one won. Go to The TipToe Fairy for the recipe.

I also couldn't decide between the pies and this Snickers Chocolate cheesecake so I went with both! YUM. Visit The Sweet Tooth Life for this recipe.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

I’d been hearing tons about “Project Life” an innovative line of scrapbook products by Becky Higgins. I was thrilled when I had the chance to play with one of the newest kits now available at Michaels: Vintage Travel.

This collection features deep blues, reds, browns and dark neutrals, and as the name suggests, lots of travel themed icons. This post is part of a paid campaign with American Crafts, but all opinions are my own.

I have been an on and off scrapbooker, and Project Life is a great way to scrapbook if you are just starting out or if you are a veteran.

Included in each kit are enough themed cards to complete an entire album. Included are cards with suggested layouts. You don’t need scissors, glue, or fancy tools. The albums support the card sizes from the kits and you can lay things out how you choose.

Everything coordinates with everything else and all of the cards are double sided. But kind of like how life is what happens when you're busy making other plans, I'm a person who doesn’t like to use stuff for its intended purpose so I decided not to make traditional scrapbook layouts with this cool Vintage Travel kit, but a smaller purse sized album that could then become part of a big 12x12 album or simply stand alone.

For this album, I selected several of the pre-scored cards from the kit:

Folded these along the score lines and then made an accordion style album by adhering the pages together with double sided tape:

Since everything coordinates, I didn’t really plan out a pattern. You could easily choose from one color family or use all of one pattern or theme or whatever you want.

I can’t have paper in my possession without tearing it. Just cannot be done! So I covered two pieces of chipboard with more of the cards from the kit, again, not particularly careful just eyeballed some coordinating colors.

I cut/tore a couple more cards and used PVA glue to adhere them to my album cover, going over the whole thing with some distress inks. Finished with an oversized eyelet on the front and back covers tied off with ribbon.

Here’s the inside where I can jot down notes or paste in ticket stubs, receipts, little things I want to keep or remember. I didn’t make it so fat that I can’t tuck the whole thing inside a bigger scrapbook if I want to. Haven’t decided yet!

This is the back cover. You can go check out the the Vintage Travel kit along with the Dear Lizzy 5th and Frolic core kits at Michaels, which carries one of the largest selections of Project Life. The Dear Lizzy collection features light blues, pinks, yellows and neutrals with birds, trees, houses, and keys.

As you can see from the pictures of the kit, there are a LOT of cards included in this kit so be on the lookout for some future projects, and maybe even an actual scrapbook !

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

I don't know what it is about a simple brown paper bag. I think they're timeless, classic, and elegant for such a simple material. Add wonderful graphic patterns, and the fact that they're food safe with grease proof liners and they're dang near perfection! Oh wait they are perfect because they're 40 for $3.99 today at Pick Your Plum!

Can't you just see them for tucking in a special back to school treat? Or as the background for some spooktacular Halloween treat bags? So many possibilities. And remember, once they're gone they're gone so go get yours NOW!!

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Happy Friday Eve all!! It's been another insane work week so I apologize...no features again this week. I mean this is the 2nd week in a row with days of no showers and all meals at my desk. Good thing I work at home and aren't you glad our relationship is virtual lol? This is College Boy's last weekend at home before returning to school so any free time is being spent with him. OK let's get right to the party!

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Mr. Chocolate, College Boy and I got away last weekend for a long weekend in Vancouver British Columbia. We love Vancouver and go there whenever we can. Most of the time when we go somewhere, I scout out where the closest craft store is because well, ya know! Knowing that we were going to be in the heart of downtown Vancouver however, it never occurred to me to check. Well what do you know?!

And I didn't even find it. Mr. Chocolate and College Boy did! We split up while out one day and they came back to the hotel and said " Did you know there's a Michaels on Alberni street" . Since we're always teasing each other, I thought they were being sarcastic. HA! So off I went after dinner.

Mod Podge supplies? Check

Wall o ribbon? Check.

Scrapbook paper? Check. Along with everything else you expect to find at Michaels: beads, seasonal decor, paints, EVERYTHING. I guess why this was such a pleasant surprise is the store's located in the heart of Vancouver's "Rodeo Drive". There's an Hermes ( ca-ching) store on one corner, a Tiffany store (more ca-ching) on the other , Louis Vuitoon across the street. along with several high end boutiques and restaurants.

Not to mention that it's two levels with origami doves going up the escalator. See? Even when I'm not trying to , I can't stay out of a craft store.

If you ever get the chance to go to Vancouver BC do it. Not just for the Michaels of course ( although c'mon...that helps) but it's a vibrant city with so much to do. Check out this food truck:

There are a bunch of fun food trucks around the city. Dining options abound and cover any type of food you could want. Drinks too!

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Unless otherwise credited, all projects are those of The Answer Is Chocolate. Please link back etc. and I will always do the same for any projects I feature that are from other sources. Thanks a bunch!